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Walmart raised its minimum wage earlier this year - but it can't measure up to some
- Amazon, Walmart, Costco, and other retail giants are fighting to hire and retain workers.
- Unemployment rates are hitting record lows and there are hundreds of thousands of jobs openings that need to be filled.
- Many companies have raised minimum wages in 2018 in an effort to attract workers.
- Here's how minimum wage compares at some of the biggest names in retail.
Companies are raising wages and adding new benefits in an effort to beat out the competition when it comes to hiring and retaining workers.
The US unemployment rate fell to 3.7%, a 48-year low, in September, according to the monthly jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the same time, there are more jobs open than ever, with 757,000 retail-job openings across the US in July, about 100,000 more than a year ago.
As a response, companies are scrambling to win over employees with new perks and higher pay.
On Tuesday, Amazon announced plans to raise the company's minimum wage in the US to $15 per hour. The company also said it will work to gain Congressional support to increase the federal minimum wage.
Amazon is just the latest in a list of companies to raise minimum wage. While the federal minimum wage remains $7.25 per hour, most of the largest retailers in the US pay significantly more than that.
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How minimum wage compares between the companies.l
In January, Walmart made headlines when it raised its minimum wage to $11 per hour. Target raised minimum wage to $12 per hour, as part of its effort to get to $15 per hour by 2020, in March. In June, Costco announced it was raising the minimum wage from $13 to $14 per hour.
"Our average US hourly wage is in the mid-22s, $22.50 roughly, which we believe dwarfs any other retail or retail-type entity out there on a big scale," Costco's CFO Richard Galanti said on a call with investors on Thursday, in response to a question on Amazon raising its minimum wage.